The oral storytelling traditions of the British Isles have connected people to the land and to their plant and animal neighbours for centuries. This collection brings together story wisdom from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that speaks to the heart of humanity's relationship with nature. Whether it's traditional stories about native birds and animals or tales of living in harmony with the landscapes we call home, there's something here for everyone who believes that a more beautiful world is within our reach. Richly illustrated with thirty original drawings, these enchanting tales will appeal to everyone interested in nature and in environmental conservation and will be enjoyed by readers, storytellers and listeners time and again.

For centuries, unicorns have inspired, enchanted and eluded humanity. The beast appears in the Old Testament and there was a brisk trade in unicorn parts in medieval times, with travellers regularly reporting sightings into the modern era. But by the early twentieth century scientists had conceded that the unicorn never existed. It turns out they were a little hasty. Where did the unicorn come from, and how was it accepted as a part of the animal kingdom for so long? Chris Lavers argues that although the unicorn of our imagination isn't real, traces of its character can be found in existing species. In this lively and vivid exploration of the natural world, Lavers follows the beast's trail to the plateaus of India and into the jungles of Africa to unearth the flesh and blood ancestors of our iconic unicorn.

A scholarly work that aims to be both broad enough in scope to satisfy upper-division undergraduates studying folk belief and narrative and detailed enough to meet the needs of graduate students in the field. Each of the seven chapters in Part 1 focuses on one aspect of Russian folk belief, such as the pagan background, Christian personages, devils and various other logical categories of the topic. The author's thesis - that Russian folk belief represents a "double faith" whereby Slavic pagan beliefs are overlaid with popular Christianity - is persuasive and has analogies in other cultures. The folk narratives constituting Part 2 are translated and include a wide range of tales, from the briefly anecdotal to the more fully developed narrative, covering the various folk personages and motifs explored in Part 1.

The Medusa Reader is the first major anthology of primary and critical material on this enigmatic figure, a symbol of all that is irresistible, fascinating and terrifying. Ranging from classical times to pop culture, this collection will appeal to art historians, feminists, classicists, cultural critics and anyone interested in mythology.

Syrian poet Samir Tahhan collected folktales from old men sitting outside their houses in Aleppo, drinking tea. Afraid these stories would disappear with the passing of this generation, Tahhan also went to halls and events to hear professional storytellers and record their performances. Anthropologist Andrea Rugh helped translate the resulting two volumes of stories from the original Arabic and wrote the informative introduction to this one-volume collection.

Some of the tales appeared in rhyming verse in Arabic and some were based on events that are said to have actually taken place in Aleppo. Rugh explains the concepts of the most popular types of Syrian story structures: the gissa, the hikaya, and the hudutha. With two of the poems, the Arabic and the English are shown side by side in order to demonstrate the internal poetic structures of the original rhymes.

With their emphasis on morality and social values, the tales will be familiar to Western audiences. Another value for the reader is finding the accepted social values and behaviors that Arab adults try to inculcate in their younger generation, often through complex characterizations. Teasing out these meanings gives the reader an appreciation for the act of translation and hints of the power of the Arabic language in prose and poetry.

Professional illustrator Douglas Rugh has provided the book's black-and-white prints based on the stories and his experiences as a child growing up in the Middle East.

A comprehensive collection of creation stories ranging across widely varying times and cultures, including Ancient Egyptian, African, and Native American.

Two sisters parted. Two women blamed. Two stories reclaimed. 'Required reading for fans of Circe . . . a remarkable, thrilling debut' - Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue For millennia, two women have been blamed for the fall of a mighty civilisation - but now it's time to hear their side of the story . . . As princesses of Sparta, Helen and Klytemnestra have known nothing but luxury and plenty. With their high birth and unrivalled beauty, they are the envy of all of Greece. Such privilege comes at a high price, though, and their destinies are not theirs to command. While still only girls they are separated and married off to legendary foreign kings Agamemnon and Menelaos, never to meet again. Their duty is now to give birth to the heirs society demands and be the meek, submissive queens their men expect. But when the weight of their husbands' neglect, cruelty and ambition becomes too heavy to bear, they must push against the constraints of their sex to carve new lives for themselves - and in doing so make waves that will ripple throughout the next three thousand years. Perfect for readers of Circe and Ariadne, Daughters of Sparta is a vivid and illuminating retelling of the Siege of Troy that tells the story of mythology's most vilified women from their own mouths at long last. Helen of Troy and her sister Klytemnestra are reimagined in this gorgeous retelling of the classic Greek myth - not as women defined by their husbands and lovers but as battle-weary survivors of a patriarchal society who take control of their own destiny. Absolutely riveting!' - Alka Joshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Henna Artist

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2022 BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY After a few billion years of bearing witness to life on Earth, of watching one hundred billion humans go about their day-to-day lives, of feeling unbelievably lonely, and of hearing its own story told by others, The Milky Way would like a chance to speak for itself. All one hundred billion stars and fifty undecillion tons of gas of it. It all began some thirteen billion years ago, when clouds of gas scattered through the universe's primordial plasma just could not keep their metaphorical hands off each other. They succumbed to their gravitational attraction, and the galaxy we know as the Milky Way was born. Since then, the galaxy has watched as dark energy pushed away its first friends, as humans mythologized its name and purpose, and as galactic archaeologists have worked to determine its true age (rude). The Milky Way has absorbed supermassive (an actual technical term) black holes, made enemies of a few galactic neighbors, and mourned the deaths of countless stars. Our home galaxy has even fallen in love. After all this time, the Milky Way finally feels that it's amassed enough experience for the juicy tell-all we've all been waiting for. Its fascinating autobiography recounts the history and future of the universe in accessible but scientific detail, presenting a summary of human astronomical knowledge thus far that is unquestionably out of this world.

This book is about ways in which the past has been crafted by storytellers. More specifically, it looks at ways in which stories are presented and understood; and how story-tellers - and their listeners or readers - may wittingly or unwittingly confuse fact with fiction. The author explores the parallels between four stories (the Trojan war, Moses, King Arthur, and Jesus) especially the way their sources relate to their subsequent histories and contemporary relevance. Michael Horan was educated at Collyer's school and has a first class BA (Hons) degree. A retired management consultant, he developed and presented seminars and courses which he likes to think took some steps towards making the workplace fit for the human spirit. Though a Baptist in his earlier years, his label today would probably read 'Quaker?' (if he wore a label at all).

Bumbling flying elephants, the demon serpent, a brash peacock, crafty jackals, a curious leopard, and even an evil, shape-shifting jinn, all make an appearance in this delightful collection of tales from India. Beautifully illustrated and imaginatively retold, Birds and Beasts, takes the reader on a fantastical journey into the wild and wonderful world of magical beasts and whimsical animals. These tales are drawn from classic texts, such as the Hitopadesha, the Kathasaritsagara, the Puranas, and the Quran. They include oral tales from Ladakh, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, and tribal folklore as well. Sourced from classic texts and collections of folk tales that date as far back as the 11th century, the stories range from the unusual to the familiar and bound to stir the imagination of every child. This title is the second in a series - the first being Mischief & Magic, a collection of magical tales from across India.

Scholars have long known that the Grail is essentially legendary, a mystic symbol forever sought by those seeking Enlightenment, a quest in which the search is as important as the result. Time and again it has been said that the Grail is a construct of mystical Christian ideas and motifs from the ancient oral tradition of the Celtic-speaking peoples of Britain. There is much to commend this view, but now, drawing on decades of research in his native Scotland, in a major new contribution to the Grail legend, the field historian and folklorist Stuart McHardy traces the origin of the idea of fertility and regeneration back beyond the time of the Celtic warrior tribes of Britain to a truly ancient, physical source. This is a physical source as dynamic and awesome today as it was in prehistory when humans first encountered it and began to weave the myths that grew into the Legend of the Holy Grail.

For more than 150 years, individuals have traveled the countryside with pen, paper, tape recorders, and even video cameras to document versions of songs, music, and stories shared by communities. As technologies and methodologies have advanced, the task of gathering music has been taken up by a much broader group than scholars. The resulting collections created by these various people can be impacted by the individual collectors' political and social concerns, cultural inclinations, and even simple happenstance, demonstrating a crucial yet underexplored relationship between the music and those preserving it.Collecting Music in the Aran Islands, a critical historiographical study of the practice of documenting traditional music, is the first to focus on the archipelago off the west coast of Ireland. Deirdre NI Chonghaile argues for a culturally equitable framework that considers negotiation, collaboration, canonization, and marginalization to fully understand the immensely important process of musical curation. In presenting four substantial, historically valuable collections from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, she illustrates how understanding the motivations and training (or lack thereof) of individual music collectors significantly informs how we should approach their work and contextualize their place in the folk music canon.

Noted French scholar and linguist discusses the gods of the continental Celts, the beginnings of mythology in Ireland, heroes, and the two main categories of Irish deities: mother-goddesses-local, rural spirits of fertility or of war-and chieftain-gods: national deities who are magicians, nurturers, craftsmen, and protectors of the people.

If there is one genre that has captured the imagination of people in all walks of life throughout the world, it is the fairy tale. Yet we still have great difficulty understanding how it originated, evolved, and spread--or why so many people cannot resist its appeal, no matter how it changes or what form it takes. In this book, renowned fairy-tale expert Jack Zipes presents a provocative new theory about why fairy tales were created and retold--and why they became such an indelible and infinitely adaptable part of cultures around the world.

Drawing on cognitive science, evolutionary theory, anthropology, psychology, literary theory, and other fields, Zipes presents a nuanced argument about how fairy tales originated in ancient oral cultures, how they evolved through the rise of literary culture and print, and how, in our own time, they continue to change through their adaptation in an ever-growing variety of media. In making his case, Zipes considers a wide range of fascinating examples, including fairy tales told, collected, and written by women in the nineteenth century; Catherine Breillat's film adaptation of Perrault's "Bluebeard"; and contemporary fairy-tale drawings, paintings, sculptures, and photographs that critique canonical print versions.

While we may never be able to fully explain fairy tales, "The Irresistible Fairy Tale" provides a powerful theory of how and why they evolved--and why we still use them to make meaning of our lives.

Why did the ancients align their monuments so precisely with the stars? What were the practical and symbolic reasons behind these mysterious configurations? From the author of "The Orion Mystery," the best-selling book that introduced the revolutionary star-correlation theory about the Giza pyramids, "The Egypt Code" reveals an amazing Grand Unified Plan behind the legendary temples of upper Egypt.

Robert Bauval, one of the world's most prominent and controversial Egyptologists, completes his groundbreaking investigation of astronomy as related to Egyptian monuments and related religious texts. "The Egypt Code" revisits the Pyramid Age and the Old Kingdom, proposing a vast sky-ground correlation for the Memphite-Heliopolis region, and presenting the possibility of a grand plan spanning three thousand years of Pharaonic civilization and involving pyramids and major temple sites along the Nile.

The central idea of the book is that the cosmic order, which the ancients referred to as "Maat," was comprised of the observable cycles of the sun and stars, in particular the star Sirius, and that the changes that took place due to the precession of the equinoxes and the so-called Sothic Cycle are reflected in the orientation and location of religious sites.

Born in Egypt and having lived there and elsewhere in the Middle East for much of his life, Robert Bauval has published several papers linking the pyramids with astronomy, and his findings have been presented at the British Museum. He has also written three books with best-selling author Graham Hancock ("Message of the Sphinx," "Talisman," and "The Mars Mystery").

A hilarious modern fairy-tale mash-up set in a world in which witches are real, magic is real and fairy tales are not only real ... but recent history. Roxy Humperdinck is still reeling from the Great Fairy Tale Cover-up when Cinderella Jones returns with a new mission: to investigate The Missing - the children who followed the Pied Piper into the mountain thirty years ago, never to be seen again. And so begins another crazy adventure that takes the girls up Jack's beanstalk, through Red Riding Hood's Woods ... and to the cottage of the most evil villain of all time, the Gingerbread Witch.

* Offers evidence from Jesse James's secret encoded diaries * Examines Jesse James's close ties with other notorious outlaws, such as Johnny Ringo, Jesse Evans, and Billy the Kid * Shows how Jesse James was related, by blood or marriage, to powerful people in law enforcement and politics, including the elite families behind the Copperheads and the Knights of the Golden Circle organizations Jesse James and many other Old West outlaws were much more than just wild cowboys. As author Daniel Duke--the great-great-grandson of Jesse James--reveals, James and other infamous outlaws were part of a larger organization, centuries old, that has affected U.S. history from the small, rural streets of early America to the highest levels of the nation's government, with continuing influence to this day. Drawing on his great-great-grandfather's secret diaries, Duke unravels the hidden history of the Wild West to expose the outlaws, politicians, and secret societies who were pulling strings behind the scenes. He examines Jesse James's close ties with other notorious outlaws, such as Johnny Ringo, Jesse Evans, and Billy the Kid, and demonstrates not only how James faked his death and lived out his life under an alias, but how Billy the Kid did the same. He also details how both Jesse James and Billy the Kid continued their work for the nameless organization after their faked deaths.

This book contains a detailed account of the various types of Icelandic folk-story, their likely origins and sources, the folk-beliefs they represent, and their meanings. In Iceland, people do not compose verse just to comfort themselves; they worship poetry and believe in it. In poetry is a power which rules men's lives and health, governs wind and sea. Icelanders have faith in hymns and sacred poems too, because of their content. They also have faith in secular poetry composed by themselves, believing it to be no less able to move mountains than religious faith is. By this belief in their own culture, they transfer it into the realm of mythology, and the glow of the super-human is shed over it. Whatever may have been their origin, the folk-stories of Iceland come to mirror the people's life and character, and in the period when the idea gained ground that all power comes from the people, their poetry and lore became sacred things that were revered and looked to as a potential source of strength. Icelandic folk-stories were similarly an important element in the Icelanders' struggle for national and cultural integrity in the nineteenth century. They were more truly Icelandic than anything else worthy of the name.

A collection of awe-inspiring stories from Finnish mythology, this treasury was assembled by educator James Baldwin, who specialized in adapting ancient narratives into captivating prose. Drawn from the oral traditions of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, these 38 entrancing tales are appropriate for all ages. 4 illustrations by N. C. Wyeth.